The learning mechanism underlying public information use in ninespine sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius).

2013 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Webster ◽  
K. N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Public Information ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Pungitius Pungitius ◽  
Learning Mechanism

scholarly journals A four-questions perspective on public information use in sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 181735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike M. Webster ◽  
Laura Chouinard-Thuly ◽  
Gabor Herczeg ◽  
Jun Kitano ◽  
Riva Riley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Ecological Specialization ◽  
Pungitius Pungitius ◽  
Culaea Inconstans ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Relative Quality

Whether learning primarily reflects general processes or species-specific challenges is a long-standing matter of dispute. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of public information use (PI-use) in sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae). PI-use is a form of social learning by which animals are able to assess the relative quality of resources, here prey patches, by observing the behaviour of others. PI-use was highly specific with only Pungitius and their closest relative Culaea inconstans showing evidence of PI-use. We saw no effects of ontogenetic experience upon PI-use in Pungitius pungitius . Experiments with live demonstrators and animated fish revealed that heightened activity and feeding strikes by foraging conspecifics are important cues in the transmission of PI. Finally, PI-use was the only form of learning in which P. pungitius and another stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus differed. PI-use in sticklebacks is species-specific and may represent an ‘ecological specialization’ for social foraging. Whether this reflects selection on perception, attentional or cognitive processes remains to be determined.

scholarly journals Public information use by foraging ninespine sticklebacks: Social learning or an unlearned social influence on travel direction?

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (11) ◽  
pp. 1569-1584 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Webster ◽  
K.N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Feeding Activity ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Pungitius Pungitius ◽  
Social Effect ◽  
Patch Choice ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Indirect Route

If we are to understand the cognitive basis and evolutionary origins of a particular behaviour, it is necessary to identify its underlying mechanism. Ninespine sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) can identify the richer of two prey patches by observing other foragers’ success. This may be due to social learning, or an unlearned social effect on travel direction, brought about by the fish being more likely to face and subsequently travel towards areas where they have observed more feeding activity. Here we show that observer orientation does not predict patch choice, and that fish are still more likely to spend more time in richer patches even if they have to take an indirect route to reach them. This suggests that sticklebacks can learn the location of the richer patch through observation, and viewed in conjunction with other published findings, suggests that learned local enhancement lies behind public information use in this species.

scholarly journals Communal and efficient movement routines can develop spontaneously through public information use

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 408-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Riotte-Lambert ◽  
Jason Matthiopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Public Information ◽  
Information Use

Private and public information use strategies by foraging groups of wild Siberian jays

2012 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 1243-1251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irja I. Ratikainen ◽  
Liv Randi Henøen Sødal ◽  
Anahita J.N. Kazem ◽  
Jonathan Wright
Keyword(s):  
Public Information ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Private And Public

Experimental test on public information use in the colonial Lesser Kestrel

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 783-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Miguel Aparicio ◽  
Raúl Bonal ◽  
Alberto Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Test ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Lesser Kestrel

scholarly journals Public information use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens).

2014 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gill L. Vale ◽  
Emma G. Flynn ◽  
Susan P. Lambeth ◽  
Steven J. Schapiro ◽  
Rachel L. Kendal
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Information Use

scholarly journals Reproductive state affects reliance on public information in sticklebacks

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1705) ◽  
pp. 619-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Webster ◽  
K. N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Reproductive State ◽  
Pungitius Pungitius ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Reproductive Females ◽  
Gravid Females

The degree to which animals use public and private sources of information has important implications for research in both evolutionary ecology and cultural evolution. While researchers are increasingly interested in the factors that lead individuals to vary in the manner in which they use different sources of information, to date little is known about how an animal's reproductive state might affect its reliance on social learning. Here, we provide experimental evidence that in foraging ninespine sticklebacks ( Pungitius pungitius ), gravid females increase their reliance on public information generated by feeding demonstrators in choosing the richer of two prey patches than non-reproductive fish, while, in contrast, reproductive males stop using public information. Subsequent experiments revealed reproductive males to be more efficient asocial foragers, less risk-averse and generally less social than both reproductive females and non-reproductives. These findings are suggestive of adaptive switches in reliance on social and asocial sources of information with reproductive condition, and we discuss the differing costs of reproduction and the proximate mechanisms that may underlie these differences in information use. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of adaptive foraging strategies in animals and for understanding the way information diffuses through populations.

scholarly journals Test of the Deception Hypothesis in Atlantic Mollies Poecilia mexicana—Does the Audience Copy a Pretended Mate Choice of Others?

Biology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaudia Witte ◽  
Katharina Baumgärtner ◽  
Corinna Röhrig ◽  
Sabine Nöbel
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Information Use ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Audience Effect ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Poecilia Mexicana ◽  
Focal Fish ◽  
Males And Females

Animals often use public information for mate-choice decisions by observing conspecifics as they choose their mates and then copying this witnessed decision. When the copier, however, is detected by the choosing individual, the latter often alters its behavior and spends more time with the previously non-preferred mate. This behavioral change is called the audience effect. The deception hypothesis states that the choosing individual changes its behavior to distract the audience from the preferred mate. The deception hypothesis, however, only applies if the audience indeed copies the pretended mate choice of the observed individual. So far, this necessary prerequisite has never been tested. We investigated in Atlantic molly males and females whether, first, focal fish show an audience effect, i.e., alter their mate choices in the presence of an audience fish, and second, whether audience fish copy the mate choice of the focal fish they had just witnessed. We found evidence that male and female Atlantic mollies copy the pretended mate choice of same-sex focal fish. Therefore, a necessary requirement of the deception hypothesis is fulfilled. Our results show that public information use in the context of mate choice can be costly.

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